VR Bowling Game Combines an Oculus Rift with a Wii Remote

[marclar83] was given an Oculus Rift so that he could prepare for an upcoming conference presentation. He began to download demos, getting familiar with the VR interface but was disappointed to find out that someone hadn’t developed a good virtual reality bowling experience yet. This prompted him to design a VR game that integrates a Wii Remote, recording the movements of the controller and sending accelerometer data to his computer.

The game he created is similar to Wii Sports Bowling but with the added bonus of being immersed in a virtual world with the Oculus Rift. The D-pad on the Wii Remote was programmed to switch stances and bowling methods, allowing the user to choose whether they want to throw the ball down the middle or curve it a long the way. Pressing the trigger button on the back started the swinging motion, and when released, the bowling ball shot down the alley at a high rate of speed crashing into the pins at the end.

Because the game was designed on the original DK1, the resolution of the images was a challenge that needed to be addressed, but [marclar83] solved this problem by implementing two user interfaces on the side of the screen that showed replays and depicted how many pins remained; proving to be a better experience for the gamer. This free public alpha version was made available for Windows, Mac, and Linux on the official VRBowling website. A video describing the project can be seen below.

5 thoughts on “VR Bowling Game Combines an Oculus Rift with a Wii Remote”

Not impressed. Bowling in a Tempest looking graphics situation doesn’t seem right to me. I don’t find this much improvement over the VR from the 90’s. Wood floor bowling lanes, look around and see other people bowling, etc. That would be the cool VR experience, but I guess we have to start somewhere.

Nothing says he couldn’t have created a more authentic bowling experience. In this case it seems like it was just a design choice. Maybe for readability or maybe just because he liked the idea of an 80’s neon VR bowling ally. In any case since the newer units are higher res (and the consumer version coming after will be even higher res) then the clarity should lend itself better to playing a game like this where something needs to be easily visible from a distance without getting lost in the noise of everything else being rendered.